The present disclosure relates to a toner container and an image forming apparatus including thereof.
An image forming apparatus such as a copier, a laser printer or the like includes a toner container attached to the apparatus main body. In general, the toner container includes a housing, a toner discharge outlet, and a shutter mechanism. The housing stores the toner. The toner discharge outlet is formed on the housing. The shutter mechanism is able to open and close the toner discharge outlet. Here, in the housing of the toner container, a lever, which is able to drive the shutter mechanism, may be swingably provided.
In addition, in this kind of image forming apparatus, different types of toner are used depending on, for example, specification of image quality, destination, colors of the images, or the like. Accordingly, usually, a suitable type of toner is specified for the image forming apparatus.
When the user uses a not-specified type of toner by mistake, a mechanical failure of the image forming apparatus or an image defect may occur. To prevent this, the compatibility must be eliminated from the toner containers that store the toner (hereinafter, it is also referred to as “the toner containers have the non-compatible function”).
As a technology proposed for this purpose, it is known, for example, that a projection is formed on the toner container at a different position or in a different shape depending on the model of the image forming apparatus, and at the same time, a concave, with which the projection is engaged, is formed on the apparatus main body to which the toner container is attached.
However, since, in general, the projection is formed from a resin material together with the toner container main body, the projection can easily be cut off by a cutter knife or the like. As a result, there is a problem that a type of toner container, which originally cannot be attached to an image forming apparatus, can be attached to the image forming apparatus by cutting off the projection.
As a technology proposed to overcome this problem, it is known, for example, that a step portion is formed on the upper part of a toner container to extend in a direction in which the toner container is inserted into the apparatus main body, and a hollow, which communicates with inside of the toner container, is formed inside of the step portion. In that case, if the step portion is cut off, the toner is leaked from inside of the toner container. With this configuration, this technology attempts to prevent the step portion from being cut off.